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by WILL FOLKS
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Lowcountry businessman and DOGE SC founder Rom Reddy scored another significant victory over South Carolina’s invasive bureaucracy this week when the Palmetto State’s top administrative law judge ruled he did not have to remove a sea wall from the Isle of Palms property on which he is paying taxes.
Previously, chief administrative law judge Ralph K. Anderson III ordered Reddy to remove the structure – even though the judge’s ruling explicitly challenged the state’s authority to regulate its presence on Reddy’s property.
Anderson also previously wiped away a six-figure fine leveled against Reddy by state environmental regulators, determining they lacked the authority to impose such a levy against him.
Anderson’s stay (.pdf) temporarily pausing his order for the wall’s demolition is the latest chapter in Reddy’s victory – with the potential to establish significant new legal protections for property owners across South Carolina.
According to the order, Reddy persuasively argued that erosion on his property had worsened since last year’s hearing and that his structure “is the only thing preventing his yard from collapsing onto the beach.” Reddy also argued he would suffer “financial and personal injury of spending invaluable time and resources to remove the structure as well as money initially spent on the structure” should he wind up prevailing on appeal.
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Our audience will recall Reddy represented himself last spring against a phalanx of attorneys with the S.C. Department of Environmental Services (SCDES) and the left-leaning S.C. Coastal Conservation League (SCCCL).
“What they are doing is a descent into total tyranny,” Reddy said at the time, describing himself as a citizen “arrayed against the police powers of the state.”
In addition to deftly arguing the specifics of his case – and the limits of the state’s authority over his property – Reddy also cast the battle as a broader fight for property rights. Failure to correctly and uniformly apply the law as written, he argued, would “result in the greatest confiscation of private property ever seen in this state.” Such an uneven interpretation would also grant “unlimited jurisdiction” to the state in such property matters.
Reddy’s organization hailed the ruling as a “great victory for property rights.”
“Our founders in the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. constitution specifically prohibit the type of behavior exhibited by the agency state,” the DOGE SC statement continued. “Trying to annex private property through regulation without purchasing the property is a violation of property rights.”
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BREAKING: Rom Reddy Does Not Have To Remove His "Sea Wall."
— DOGE SC (@officialdogesc) March 11, 2026
HUGE win for private property rights against the agency state!
Judge Ralph Anderson granted a permanent stay on submitting any plans to remove the seawall until the appeals process is exhausted.
Rom Reddy has been… https://t.co/sXbdympTpw
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“Renee and I will fight this type of tyranny from the government every day of the week and twice on Sunday,” Reddy said, referring to his wife, Renee Reddy, who was originally a named defendant in the state’s case against her husband.
Just last month, Reddy received the backing of the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) in his ongoing battle with state regulators – a significant development in his ongoing appeal of the portions of Anderson’s ruling that went against him.
Reddy’s initial court fight unfolded during the infancy of DOGE SC, which has since blossomed into one of the more muscular political movements in South Carolina. Reddy’s success with DOGE SC has also sparked persistent rumors that he may be considering a campaign for governor of the Palmetto State in 2026.
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THE STAY…
(Source)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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12 comments
“Does not have to remove his wall…yet”, there I fixed it for you.
Butt you still need to be removed from society, chump.
All bullies and stalkers take notice.
Spoken like a true bootlicker
Man this guy could be the posterboy for “Douchebag”. One look at him reminds me of a vaginal discharge.
How long have you been a transgender?
You need to work on your pick up lines…
How exactly is he going to suffer personal injury if required to remove the wall. I don’t see candy-ass hands risking a blister on manual labor. The guy likely would have to ChatGPT on shoveling instructions.
I think Rum scored another win over Will’s balls.
Supreme Ct has no alternative. It must come down. Ron can still be criminally charged, and he should be. If he isn’t, it will prove the damn need to tear down the entire state legal system, incarcerate all lawyers and lawmakers and lock them up for no less than 10 years
Ever wonder why SC has not built a single new prison in almost 3O years???? The State population has basically doubled. But lawmakers are corrupt shitheads. They are not your friends. They are your enemy just like rogue and lawless cops that are illegally tracking and illegally spying on Will and his people. Bogus fabricated wire tapping and surveillance orders are the norm in SC.
It’s one thing when wealthy people buy lots on the beach and then want to holler for the taxpayer to come rescue them when the beach or the dunes erode away or shift. But when you are being impeded to spend your own money to protect your own property from those same threats, it’s a different story. We need more wins like this. and the legal tide has been turning [pun intended] on individual property rights.
Government has no right telling anyone they have to pay taxes on the purchases of a cup of coffee and a donut or a night out for dinner with the family.
You also have no right to build on the beach, which is public, nor any right to build something that will direct water and erosion onto neighboring properties.